Checkmate
by Ascari
Summary: AU, Methos manipulates everybody to get rid of an evil Immortal and some watchers(takes place before Don Salzer was killed by Kalas in 1995 and after Darius was beheaded in 1993).


_I finally decided to post my first fan fiction attempt here. I'm not English; so, if you have problems with my grammar- and other mistakes, please go away. I also want to thank my beata Ncimmie, she already has corrected most of the mistakes. It was lots of work for her_

_Read and review (And please be kind with me)_

**Standard disclaimer: the concept of Immortality and the Immortals belong to ****Rysher and are copyrighted by them. This story is for fun, not for profit.**

**Location: Auris café, day 1**

On a very sultry summer day in August, Methos sat outside the recently opened Italian café Auris and emptied his lukewarm beer.

"Another beer, Sir?" the blonde waitress of about 27 years interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes, please," he replied.

As the waitress turned to get another beer for him, Methos sighed deeply. He still had not the slightest clue of what to give Don Salzer, who had been his friend and mentor since Methos had joined the watchers in 1984, as birthday present this evening. Methos sighed again and tried to refocus his thoughts on his current problem.

"The gift...what can I buy him? ... I could buy him a new book... but I already bought him a book for Christmas... so what else...hmm...a new fountain pen? ... a toaster?... yeah, a toaster- how very imaginative... hmm...Oh come on, I have the wisdom of 5000 years and still not the slightest idea what to give Don for his birthday? Damn..."

Dissatisfied with his ideas so far, Methos began to play with the label of his empty beer until the blonde waitress returned with a new one, which she put down on the table in front of the still brooding Immortal. Methos absently nodded his thanks to her and then took a big swallow, enjoying the fresh and cold flavour.

"What makes Don really happy?...hmmm...Definitely his work ... especially when it comes to Methos...maybe I should give him a clue of my whereabouts in the 16th century......or even better...I give him a letter from Darius to me and claim I discovered it in one of the old books the watchers achieved after Darius's death ...yes, that is just perfect. Don will be totally happy."

Satisfied with his idea, he took another sip of his beer and watched the other guests. He was focusing on a beautiful girl that was talking to her girlfriend about the current shoe fashion, when suddenly Methos felt an immortal presence. Methos managed to stop in his tracks for only one short second before he continued his movement as if nothing had happened. He knew that there was no chance for the other Immortal to discover him in the crowd of mortals as long as he wouldn't give himself away.

"Relax," he thought. "You only have to sit and wait...If he can't figure you out, maybe he will move on."

Forcing himself to relax and breathe more slowly, he took another sip of his beer, letting his eyes wander over the other guest's faces and smile to the waitress coming his direction.

"I would like to have the Caesar cake please," he ordered. Smiling back at him, the waitress hurried back into the café. She returned a couple of minutes later and set the cake in front of Methos. Letting the smile spread on his face a little bit wider, Methos took the first bit of the cake enjoying its flavour.

"Good?" the waitress wanted to know.

"Yes, very good, thank you" he replied. She reminded him a little bit of an old love, but this was not really a surprise. After 5000 years nearly everybody reminded him of someone he had met. While he watched her hurry to take another guest's order, Methos relaxed back in his chair and searched in his pocket for his sunglasses. Pretending to play with them, he then let them wander between his fingers, trying to get a reflection of the other Immortal. It was not a real challenge for Methos to discover the other one. His whole attitude obviously screamed: Immortal. Without even trying to cover his own Immortal status, the other one stood right in front of the café and starred intensely at the guests. And that was not enough: Although it was a very sultry day and everybody was sweating very much, the other Immortal wore a big, black leather coat, the typical sign for immortality. Sometimes Metros really wondered if this happened to be the new Immortal basic outfit, available for every Immortal under 3000, and supplied directly after the first death, together with a sword and a blood-stain-remover – just everything a new Immortal needed. Sometimes it really seemed so.

Moving his glasses, Methos could see the dark eyes of the other Immortal wander over the crowd, judging everybody while trying to discover the other Immortal. Methos forced himself

to take another bit of his cake while he tried to keep a relaxed expression on his face. Another hour passed and the other Immortal still hadn't gone away, Methos sighed in defeat. If he didn't hurry, he would be late to Don's party that evening. Not to mention the gathering rain clouds.

"Great" he thought angrily, "really great". Waving for the waitress he asked for the bill.

**Location: near Auris café**

Methos knew that he had to lose the other Immortal or at least his watcher, or else his cover in the watcher organisation would be blown. So he took his bag, which hid his sword, and began - pretending to be absolutely relaxed - to saunter down the street as if he had all the time of the world. When he felt the other Immortal's quickening weaken, he suddenly began to speed up, turning left onto a side-street and then changing his direction again to dart down another small street. Panting he then realized that the other Immortal's quickening was not getting weaker any longer. "Crap, he must have discovered me." Heading into another small street, Methos recognized his mistake almost immediately: he had reached a dead end. Turning around with a bad feeling rising in his stomach, he hurried back as fast as he could and turned onto another dark street and then onto another. Then he stopped because he suddenly realized that he no longer knew where he was and where he needed to go. Because the presence of the other immortal was still in sensing range, Methos decided to hope for the best and took the next small street that headed left. He ran down as fast as his feet allowed him when he suddenly registered that he was again caught in a dead end. Panicking a bit, he turned round when he heard heavy footsteps coming closer. Methos immediately knew that there was no chance of running anymore because the other one was too close already. Slowing down his breath and relaxing his muscles, Methos put on his best Adam Pierson, mild mannered watcher face. He didn't have to wait very long for the other Immortal's arrival. He now had the chance to examine the other immortal very closely while he approached Methos. His appearance didn't do much to lessen Methos' bad feeling. With his dark, almost black eyes, his a few days old beard and his dark-spotted skin, the immortal gave the impression of the stereotype of a very bad guy. The other man stopped in front of Methos and grinned, baring a line of sharp teeth that reminded Methos strongly of a shark – what made the bad feeling he already had about this guy even stronger.

"I'm Dimitri Vikanovich," the man said, "and I'm here to take your head. You are quite the little runner boy, but there is no way to run now. So take your sword and fight".

With that he immediately made the first move towards Methos, bringing his sword down in a heavy blow. Methos barely managed to jump to the side while he tried to bring up his sword to parry the other Immortal's next blow, which was even more forceful than the last one. It didn't take Methos long to realize that his opponent was a much better fighter than himself and would probably beat him within the next few minutes if he wouldn't come up with a very good plan quickly. "Damn, I should have listened to Marcus and trained harder and drank less beer."

Backing away with his best young and innocent face in place, Methos begged with fear-wide eyes and a small trembling voice, "Please...please, I don't," he sobbed "I don't want to die...I'm still so young. Do what ever you want with me, but please spare my life."

Still pretending to tremble badly, Methos managed a few steps away from the other man before he looked up into the other's grinning face. There he could see that the other Immortal was totally buying his "Adam Pierson" act. Dimitri's grin widened and became even more evil, if this was possible.

"A young one" he hissed "yes, a young one you really are". With a dark glimmer in his eyes, he licked his lips while he examined Methos. "I like the young ones... Put down your sword voluntarily, boy and I promise you to spare your life."

Methos swallowed very hard at this. Putting down his sword in front of a deadly Immortal went against every instinct that he had. Methos knew that he had no other choice, because he wouldn't last more than three minutes at best against the other man. Swallowing very hard again, Methos finally threw his sword away. Without his sword, he felt naked and totally vulnerable as he watched Dimitri kicking it out of range. Forcing himself not to panic, he made again eye contact to the other man - immediately regretting that he had given up his sword when the only think he saw there was maliciousness.

"Good boy. And now don't move," Dimitri said as he came closer to Methos. He suddenly pushed him very hard against the wall. A little bit stunned, Methos could only watch as Dimitri's used one strong hand to press the sword against his throat while he caressed his face with the other. "You are a pretty one," Methos heard Dimitri whisper into his ear. "I like the green colour of your eyes and your skin is quite exquisite and so soft."

"Please," Methos sobbed with his best, terrified young immortal voice. "Please...you promised you wouldn't hurt me."

Already very excited because of his terrified whimper, the immortal pressed his body close to Methos, so that he could feel Dimitri's hardness against him. "You will please me little one. Together we will have so much fun. And if you are good enough, I even might let you keep your head." Not paying attention to his prisoner because of his own agitation, he didn't notice the dagger Methos had hidden in his jeans. Leaning forward to kiss his still subbing and apparently terrified prisoner, he suddenly felt a burning pain in his left side. Totally surprised, he let go of his prisoner and looked down at his site where a dagger stuck out of his flesh. His eyes widened in rising realisation. With a cry of pure rage he tried to beat Methos with the hilt of his sword against the head. But Methos, who was already expecting the blow, dodged and kicked back, his fist connecting with Dimitri's right temple.

Although Dimitri was wounded by the dagger, Methos knew that he had no chance to win a hand-to-hand fight against the other immortal. He guessed that it would probably take only a few minutes for the other Immortal to recover. Dimitri would then gain back his full body strength and easily overpower Methos. His only chance was to run and hope that the dagger would slow his enemy down enough to make a successful escape.

So when the other man was momentarily dazed by the blow to his head, Methos jumped to the side and began running as fast as possible along the street. He heard Dimitri roar with anger behind him. He turned on another street and didn't stop running until he no longer had any breath left. Weakly leaning against a wall, he panted hard; listening is heart beating very fast.

"This was damn close," he thought. "Seems that I'm really out of practise. Maybe it would be a really good idea to train a little bit more...damn... and he also has my weapons now...I really need to get another sword...and fast... before I run out of luck and have another encounter with a hunting Immortal." Praying for more luck at his way home, he hurried to his flat.

**Location: Methos' flat/ Don's home**

His first action at home was to help himself to another set of weapons, which was not a problem because he always had some swords near by as replacement if he ever needed one. "First rule in Immortal business: let yourself never run out of weapons. It could be a very fatal and very last failing." Feeling the reassuring hilt in his hands, he began to relax a little bit.

He stripped himself of his sweat-stained clothes and went to the shower, taking his sword with him. He stood in there about 45 minutes, letting hot water run down his body as he replayed the fight over and over in his mind, painfully aware of how close he had come to the final beheading. He knew that he had been very lucky that the other guy had bought the 'Adam Pierson' act. The problem was, that the other Immortal would probably not underestimate him a second time, and so another encounter would very likely end with him loosing his head – not something Methos was very happy about.

"I really need practise very badly," Methos admitted to himself. "Maybe I should ask Markus to train with me...or I could join one of the new dojos opening all over the town."

Methos stepped out of the shower and began to dry himself with a towel when he got a look at his watch. "Damn," he thought. "7 pm already...crap...I will be late to Don's party." Quickly, Methos grabbed his clothes and tried to put them on while he simultaneously tried to find Darius' letter he wanted to give Don as birthday present. Being 5000 years old but not a superman, he got tangled in his jeans, lost balance and felt painfully to his knees. "Ahhh..." he muttered "great...just great. I should have stayed in bed today. This day can't get any worse."

Grabbing his coat, he ran to his bike and raced to Don's house. That the day could get even worse he experienced on the way to Don's... it suddenly began to rain. When he finally arrived, he was totally wet and dripped on Don's carpet.

"Sorry...I know I'm late" he babbled.

Don's reacted with a wide smile before he took Methos into a warm hug. "No problem. Come in. I will get you some clothes of mine before you drip all over my floor." Guiding Methos into his bedroom, he took a pair of trousers and a shirt out of his cupboard and handed it to Methos. The clothes were too big for him... he looked like a teenager wearing his older brother's clothes. Looking at him, Don smiled at Methos like a proud father and then guided him into the dining room where the rest of the guests were sitting and eating. "Sit down, Adam." Don told him. "You must be hungry".

Methos knew all the guests. They were all watchers and friends of Don. After exchanging greetings, Methos sat down next to Ian Powers, a grey haired watcher of 55 years, who was talking to Joe Dawson. As far as Methos understood both were exchanging stories about their assignments.

"...And then MacLeod jumped back to his feet and took that damn bastard's head with one powerful stroke. You should have seen the quickening, Ian, it was fantastic," Joe said almost enthusiastically. "And the guy really deserved it... I mean... have you seen his chronicle? This guy was a real sun of a bitch... I can't say that I'm sorry that Mac took his worthless head. He..."

Knowing his friend's preferences, Don settled a bottle of beer in front of Methos, which he took a deep sip of while he helped himself to a cup of the served pumpkin-cream sup. Forcing his concentration back to the conversation, he heard Ian replay, "...I'm so jealous of your assignment, Joe. What I would give to have such a great man like him... a man of real honour. Not like the scum I have to watch. A freaking hunter... And that's not enough, he also is a rapist." Ian spat the last words, anger burning in his eyes. "Watch and never interfere...yeah... I know my oath. But sometimes I really wish..."

"You know, that you can't intervene," another watcher, a 40 year-old woman by the name of Joan Baker interrupted.

"Yes, I know...but what would YOU do? I watched him hunt... especially the new Immortals that have not the slightest bit of a chance against this scum. Slaughtering them with this evil grin on his face...I really like to spit in it...and that's not the even the worst he does. If the Immortal is pretty enough, he sometimes rapes him before he finally takes his head...I really hope for the day he will piss off the wrong Immortal and lose his worthless head as result.

When this happens, I will dance on the bastard's grave, drinking Champagne and printing 'Here lies Dimitri Vikanovich, thank god that he freed mankind of this scum' on his gravestone.

Electrified by the mention of the Immortals name, Methos joined the conversation "Dimitri Vikanovich is your assignment? I've heard of him before" Methos lay. Then he talked a while with Dawson and Ian Powers about their assignments, drinking a second beer and helping himself to another cup of sup.

Later, when the lasagne was finally served, Methos made conversation with his neighbour Corinna Belham, who also was in research. They talked about slavery in Egypt, and he really enjoyed the conversation when Ian suddenly interrupted: "Joe and I are discussing the subject of Methos at the moment...I mean you are the Methos expert. Have you and Don recently found any evidence of the Ancient's whereabouts? I really would like to know where he is."

"Yeah," Joan said. "The watcher council had set a prize of 1,000,000 Dollars for the one, who discovers the Ancient one."

"Sorry," Don interrupted. "Adam and I have not found any new evidence which could lead us to his current location. We can only put together his tracks in the past and add it to his chronicle. But finding him within the next few years...I wouldn't count on it. I mean... we not even have the slightest clue of what he looks like...He could be anybody. Your neighbour or your taxi driver...who knows where he's hiding."

"Yeah," Corinna sighed, "I really wonder, what he would be like, maybe another Darius?"

"Yes," Jan agreed, "I always picture the Ancient as a grey haired man with old eyes that reflect eternity, sitting at a holy place and giving advise to mankind...Yeah, don't laugh, I know I'm a romantic... But that's the picture I have in my head when I think about the Ancient. Imagine what he could tell us, what great wisdom he must hold. We could learn so much from him."

Ian sighed with a wishful smile on his face. "You must know that I was really obsessed with him when I was a young watcher graduating from watcher academy... Sure, every young watcher wants to be the one who finds the Oldest of all Immortals, but my obsession ran a little bit deeper. I even tried to became a member of your team, Don...a pity that I was too bad in ancient languages." He laughed, showing a little bit of regret in his voice. "Now years later I'm a little bit older and wiser and the obsession has weakened...but that doesn't mean that I'm not still interested about every snippet on Methos. So if you find something interesting, feel free to call me. And of course, I always can use the 1,000,000 Dollars."

"What do you think, Adam?" another of the watchers questioned Adam. "You and Don must have discussed this subject already."

Considering his answer, Methos took another sip of his beer; "Maybe he is just a normal guy...with the same desires as everybody. Maybe he only wants to live, to love...and to drink good beer, of course." Grinning wide, he grabbed his beer and saluted to the others. Because all were laughing, no one noticed the gold flashing sparkles in Adam's eyes.

"Yes sure...maybe the Oldest is an alcoholic and is hiding in a treatment centre...and that's why we haven't found him yet," a watcher joked.

"Or he is writing a Kamasutra book to teach us the art of love...providing us with his endless wisdom," a female watcher giggled.

Joking and drinking the group enjoyed the rest of the afternoon until it was time to leave. Because it was still raining outside and Methos would get wet again riding home, Don suggested that he should sleep on the sofa.

"Oh...I forgot," Methos suddenly realized. "I still haven't given your birthday present to you". He reached into his coat and handed the letter to Don. "I've found it in one of Darius old books. The receiver's name is not mentioned. Darius only addresses a very old friend, but I think that the letter was meant for Methos."

Don very carefully took the letter and began to read. Methos saw a smile widening on the other man's face. Then Don looked up into Methos' eyes. There, Methos could read incredible joy and traces of something Methos couldn't place. After a moment that felt like eternity, Don put Methos in warm hug and whispered "Thank you...you really don't know what that means for me. Thank you so much."

Then he let go of Methos and turned around to put the letter safety away. Methos almost missed the glittering tear in Don's eye, the other man wished away with his right hand. "Wait here, I'm going to bring you a blanket and a pillow for the sofa." Don smiled and hurried to get the promised things. Curled up on the sofa, Methos was fast asleep within 15 minutes.

"You look so incredibly young," Don Salzer thought when he watched the sleeping form of his friend after he had come out of the bedroom a little bit later. "So young and so vulnerable...and still so human." Looking at Adam, Don felt a warm feeling growing in his stomach. He loved this sleeping man in front of him with all of his heart. Adam was the son he always had wanted. "A 5000 year old son," he forced himself to remember. "...and not Adam...METHOS...the oldest of all Immortals...looking like a teenager asleep on my sofa".

Don raised his hand and caressed Adam's face. "I love you," he whispered. "Yes, I know your secret, Methos... Nobody will ever know. I will keep your secret...with my life if necessary. Not because you are the Oldest, but because of what you mean to me."

He still remembered the day he had discovered 'Adam's' true identity as clearly as it had been today. It had only been a pure accident when he had visited the museum at Olympia with his wife Christine during their last trip to Greek. Christine had discovered a Greek statue showing an anonymous marathon runner that exactly looked like Adam. She had made a joke about it, not seeing Don's face go pale. He had immediately known. Everything suddenly had made sense for him: Adam's shyness against other people, his incredible language skills and wisdom of history. He remembered Adam's unusually eyes that normally were green, but sometimes flashed in an almost alien golden fire. He then had realized that the gold eyes belonged to Methos while the green eyes were Adam's – almost like a Chameleon.. "Maybe sometime I will tell you that I know, Methos...or maybe sometime, when you trust me enough, YOU will tell ME."

Don smiled and then hurried to his bed.

**Location: Methos' flat, day 2**

The next day, Methos rode home – but only after a big breakfast Don had forced him to eat. At home, Methos tried to translate old chronicles for the watchers but couldn't concentrate. His mind was full of thoughts spinning around. "Dimitri" he thought, "I've got to do something about him." Methos knew that there was a good chance that Dimitri was still hunting for him because he had tricked and stabbed him – and Dimitri had not given the impression of a very forgivable man. And with his recent luck, he would probably run directly into Dimitri's arms. Or even better, Dimitri's watcher Ian Powers would identify him and his cover would be blown. He really didn't want this to happen. Methos still loved his life as Adam Pierson; he didn't want to lose his relationship with Don and the possibility his work provided him with. To correct all chronicles referring to himself and to cover his tracks, Methos needed much more time. Deleting all possible connections between him and the other Horsemen had taken more than eight months and there was still so much more to do.

"Ok, what to do first?" he thought, "I need more information first before I can make a plan.

With Don's code I should be able to get access to Dimitri's chronicle...Maybe I also can directly talk to Ian Powers...He knows and trusts me, it shouldn't be very difficult to encourage him to talk about his assignment."

As far as Methos knew Ian played in Don's poker group on Wednesday afternoons. So when Adam met Don later at work, he asked him, if he could join them on Wednesday. Don immediately agreed, always happy when Adam seemed interested in connecting with other people instead of spending so much time alone with books.

**Location: Don's home, day 4**

"You are bluffing" Ian claimed later when they where sitting around Don's table, playing poker. "You cannot have a full house, you already had one."

Methos' only reaction was a slight grin while his green eyes glittered with humour.

"Yeah...he is right" Joe Dawson added. "Neighter do I ...No human being can have such luck."

"You can always increase the stake," Methos suggested while he helped himself to a handful peanuts from the bowl on the table. Ian examined the few remaining dollars in front of him. Then he took a look at Methos impressive accumulation of money and considered his next move as he tried to read in Methos' face. His problem was, that a look in a statue's face would have been as informative - Methos' face gave away nothing.

"OK, you got me," he said finally, sighing. "I only hope that I still will have my underwear left when I get home."

"And you Mr. Dawson?" Methos asked.

"Oh...I think I follow Ian's example and give up...this time, lad, only this time. Even you will run out of luck sometime and then we will strike back," Dawson answered with a dissatisfied expression shown on his face.

"Sure" grinned Methos and added the money from the pot to his winnings.

An hour later, Ian and Joe were almost out of money. Don had, because he knew against whom he was playing, given up before he had lost too much and Methos was about 300 dollars richer then before.

"You are incredible, Adam," Ian admired Adam's poker skills. "You have a great poker face, lad. I really couldn't tell when you where lying and when you really had the cards you were claiming to have."

Methos lowered his eyes and let a shy Adam Pierson smile flicker over his features. "Thank you...does anybody want another beer?" he asked already getting up. He brought three beers back to the table and placed them in front off the other men.

Two hours later, the poker game had been forgotten. Instead they were completely drunk - of that Methos had made sure. He was the only one left with a clear mind, having the advantage of an old, powerful immortal quickening and a resistance against alcohol, gained by drinking beer on a daily basis for about 5000 years. "Time to strike" Methos thought when he sat down next to Ian and began to manipulate him to tell Methos everything about his assignment, his daily routine, his fighting skills...everything what could be useful for Methos in the future. And a drunken Ian was very easily to manipulate. Within an hour Methos knew everything, including Ian's watcher code for the database. After calling taxies for the drunken men and getting Don into his bed, Methos went home. With a feeling of satisfaction, he sank into a long, relaxing sleep.

**Location: Methos' flat, day 5**

The next day Methos sat in his big and comfortable old chair and tried to come up with a good plan to get rid of Dimitri. Because he now had Ian's watcher code, it was no longer a problem to check Dimitri's routine daily. Of course, he could have used Don's code, but it could rouse suspicion if the watchers noticed it. There was no logical reason why Don should have daily access to Dimitri's chronicle when Dimitri had absolutely nothing to do with Methos. Not wanting to make anyone suspicious and because he didn't want to create any problems for Don, Methos used Ian's much safer code.

"Hmmm..." Methos thought as he looked at Dimitri's information on his laptop screen. "Nice guy." Dimitri was described as a 600-year-old Immortal from Russia. According to his chronicle, he was an excellent fighter with five kills confirmed in the last two months. Three of the unlucky Immortals were new ones who had died their first deaths only a short time before. Scrolling down, Methos also read the man's history: Dimitri was described as a hunter and rapist who killed Immortals and mortals alike. Methos found many confirmed stories of his brutal actions. In one it was described how he had beaten a young woman in Rumania before he had raped here. Another entry said that he had sliced a young man's throat open while he raped his girlfriend in front of his dying body. Methos took a closer look at this paragraph. Apparently someone had intervened: Dimitri had been killed and pushed into a near river. Then he had disappeared for about 40 years until the watchers got a new sighting of him in England.

Methos scrolled again.

"Yeah...really nice...why do I always attract psychos?...And how to hell should I get rid of him? I'm not good enough to fight him in combat - that's for sure...So there's only one option left: run as long as I will be able to...Damn...I'm not ready to give up Adam Pierson yet...There should be, no there MUST be another way... I'm 5000 years, I should be really able to come up with something..."

Soon, Methos had a plan ready. He couldn't fight Dimitri, so the only logical solution was, that he wouldn't fight him... another Immortal would. The only problem was to find a suitable Immortal in town that could be manipulated into fighting Dimitri and hopefully solve Methos' problem by taking the bastard's head. In case the immortal would fail, Methos had already a plan B ready. Grinning, Methos typed Don's code into the database, getting access to all chronicles available. It didn't take long to find the information he needed. There were six Immortals currently staying in town: Dimitri, Iris Raid, Duncan MacLeod, a man called Alex Roberts, a Nathan Baker and a Maria d'Ora.

Methos considered his options, remembering what Joe Dawson had said to him on Don's birthday. He had described MacLeod as a man full of honour, with a good sense of right and wrong. A man who always tried to protect the innocent. "Boy Scout," Methos smiled to himself. He loaded MacLeod's file and read the sections in McLeod's chronicles where his fighting skills were described. He was good, but Methos was not sure, if MacLeod was good enough yet to beat Dimitri. "Not so good idea" he thought with a slight feeling of dissatisfaction "if I get you killed, Darius will climb out of his grave and hunt me in my dreams. No...I better chose on of the others."

Closing MacLeod's chronicle to open Alex Robert's instead, Methos flashed Duncan's photo a golden smile "Someday I will meet you...and then I will test you...but not today."

Focussing on Robert's file, he forced the thoughts on Duncan MacLeod away. Robert seemed to be a normal guy of about 250 years, a bookstore owner who was married to Andra van Cloud, a 33 year old nurse. Nothing extraordinary.

A little bit disappointed, Methos clicked Nathan Baker's file and read. "Yes," he hissed. "You are so perfect." Backer was an 280 year-old immortal from Poland who owed a car dealership. The photo showed a good looking man with blue eyes and brown hair. He was 34 years old when he died the first time. The chronicle also described him as a very jealous person who regularly beat his girlfriends and wives. In 1808 he was even accused of killing his wife. Because there was not enough proof, he had gotten away. After that entry there were several others, describing Nathan's crazy jealousy and the beating of several other women. "Yes," Methos whispered, "you are the perfect candidate...and if you should lose your head – what most likely is going to happen, it won't be a very great loss for mankind. No need to proceed with plan A any longer, plan B fits so much better for you."

Scrolling down to get to the last documented weeks at the end of the file, a very interesting detail caught his eye. Baker had hired a detective to spy on his current girlfriend. "Jealousy can get you really killed" Methos snickered. The whole scenario was almost perfect. For a super manipulator like Methos, it wouldn't be a real problem to lure the involved people into the right direction. A little bit of pushing here and a little bit of pushing there. The strategist in him grinned in anticipation of the events most likely to come. It would be almost like a chess game: he only had to play his figures right. And as in almost every chess game he would make his first move with his pawn. Letting his eyes move back to the computer screen, he focused on the detective's personal data: Arnold Giles, 37 years, divorced, living in River Street 5.

**Location: Arnold Giles's office**

It already was late night when Arnold Giles came back into his empty office. He had been watching Melissa Hart for the past 17 hours and was totally exhausted. All he wanted to do was to put his things back into his office and then head home where he planned to take a long, hot shower and tried to forget his current case. He neither liked the case nor his current client. But money was money and he couldn't choose what case to take and what not because he needed the cash. He had followed Melissa to work, had observed her buying meal and then had waited near her house in his car. After that, he had followed her to his client's house where she still was staying. He had parked in front of the house and witnessed the girl crying when his client had accused her once again of betraying him. The detective had also heard the blows. Some part of Giles hated this man, but what could he do? He had told the man several times that he had not been able to find any kind of evidence of a lover over the past two weeks. His client was so obsessed with the idea of his girlfriend betraying him with another man that he wouldn't listen. Instead he accused Giles of not doing his job. He even threatened Giles. Normally not a man to be easily intimidated, Giles thought this man was dangerous –really dangerous.

"I really shouldn't have taken the case," he thought as he hurried into the small kitchen that belonged to his office. There he suddenly discovered a seated figure holding something into it's hand. In panic he tried to get hold of his gun, moving at the same time into a dark edge to get out of shooting range. When after a few seconds the stranger still had not attacked him but instead reminded on his chair, Giles gathered his courage and switched on the lights. The man in front of him didn't look very dangerous. He was a skinny, young man, with dark hair, green eyes and a prominent nose. All in all he looked quite handsome and very young. When Giles also discovered that the object in the stranger's hands turned out to be a bottle of beer, he let himself relax and lowered the gun.

"Who are you? And what to hell do you do in my kitchen, drinking my beer?" he angrily cried.

The young man only smiled a shy smile and introduced himself, "My name is Joe Bauer. I'm sorry that I let myself in but I didn't wanted to be seen talking to you. I'm a good friend of Melissa Hunt, the lady you've been watching...."

When Giles tried to interrupt him, Bauer shock his head. "No... please let me explain first...if you don't like what you hear, you can throw me out."

Giles looked in the pleading green eyes of the young man and considered what he had heard so far. "Ok," he answered, taking a beer for himself and sitting in front of the man, "Explain".

"Like I said before," Bauer explained shyly. "I'm a good friend of Melissa and I have seen what that bastard does to her every single day ...Look at the injuries he daily inflicts on her, beating her until she is bleeding...This has to stop."

"Yes," confirmed Giles. "I've seen the beatings. She even had to go to hospital last week because he had broken one of her ribs. I really thought about reporting him to the police then...But I don't have any pictures and I also don't think that would really help her. She has to leave him on her own... I doubt that is likely to happen anytime soon, because this bastard threatened to kill her if she should ever try to leave him... I'm really sorry for the poor girl, but I don't know how to help. I mean, I already told him that he is wrong... that she has no lover..." he shrugged helplessly.

"I know a way," Bauer interrupted. "Give him a proof of her betrayal".

"What?" Giles was horrified. He jumped up from his chair, "Are you crazy? Have you totally lost your mind? He will go berserk and not only kill her but also her false lover."

"No, he will not," Bauer very calmly answered with a glimmer of gold in his eyes. "No. This time it will be him who will pay."

For a moment Giles saw something on Bauer's face that didn't fit with the behaviour he had shown so far. It was a glimpse of something dark and very dangerous that had flickered over Bauer's face for a short moment. Giles blinked and the moment was gone. Before him stood a shy young man. "I should really go to bed" he thought "my eyes are playing me tricks already".

"Tell him, that you have found some evidence of Melissa having a lover. Lure him into trusting you. I will give you some pictures that will show Melissa with her lover. Meet him and show him the pictures. Then tell him that you understand him and that you want to help him get revenge," Methos explained. "Give him the address where he will be able to meet this man. He will be full of jealous rage and won't be thinking rationally. He will not realize that he is being tricked...Instead he will race to the given address where three hired guys will be waiting for him. They will show him the pleasure of pain. You can be sure that this bastard will never touch any women after that encounter - of that the guys will make sure."

"I don't know" Giles said very unsure of the plan.

"Do you want to help her, or not?" Bauer forcefully interrupted him. "This guy is scum. He deserves this...you know that. You are a good man, Arnold Giles. You know it's the right think to do."

For a second their eyes locked and Giles saw a gold burning fire in them, then they changed back to the normal green. Giles blinked. Then he considered what the young man had said.

"He is right, Nathan Baker deserved this...this and many more, for all he had done to the poor girl," he thought. Confirming his decision he nodded to Bauer "OK, I will help."

"Good," Bauer smiled shyly. "I contact you as soon as possible." With that Bauer left the office and disappeared into the night.

**Location: Methos' car**

"Well," Methos whispered, as he got into his car, quite satisfied with himself. "That went really well". The strategist in him was a little bit disappointed, because the detective had not really been much of a challenge to his persuasion skills. "Typical boy scout," Methos thought a bit amused. "So eager to do right and help the helpless." He had only had to place the innocent in the right light and the detective was like putty in his hands. Because he had lured him so well, the detective had even forgotten to ask why he knew that the detective had been watching Melissa.

"I've still got it" he grinned satisfied. Getting the pictures would not be a great problem. He had only to take a good picture of Dimitri out of the watcher database and send it together with Melissa's picture to an old friend. His friend then would take care of the rest. The manipulation wouldn't need to be perfect. It was ok if they lasted only a few seconds - exactly as long as Baker needed to get convinced that he was betrayed. Then he would hopefully race without thinking to the given address, where he would fight Dimitri and loose his head. At least that was the plan so far.

He smiled and leaned back in his car, "Yeah, the plan was in motion."

**Location: Methos' flat, day 10**

A few days later, Methos got the pictures from his friend. His first impression was that they were really hot. Nathan Baker would surely burn with anger. If he hadn't known that they were faked, he would have been absolutely convinced of their authenticity. The only way to discover the manipulation was a very close look at them with a magnifying glass, but Methos doubted that Baker would in his fury pay closer attention. Methos was quite satisfied and reminded himself to send his friend an old bottle of best Scottish whisky.

"And now to the next problem," he thought. "I've got to get rid of the watchers. There is no way I can successfully go on with my plan, having to watchers breathing down my neck...hmm..." He went to his refrigerator and grabbed a beer. "What to do with them?...They could get ill...or maybe drunk..."

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a police siren, "Or maybe a 'worried neighbour' calls the police because he witnesses a stranger with binoculars spying on other people. Add a near school with young children into the mix and the police will most likely be racing to the place. There they will hopefully question the stranger about his intensions... or even better, arrest him."

Methos didn't think that it would be a problem to find a café near a school where Giles could lure his client to show him with the address and the faked pictures. "Poor watcher" Methos smiled with a evil glittering in his gold flashing eyes. "But it's not as it would be the first time a watcher gets arrested in the line of duty. Of course, the watcher council would get the arrested watcher out of jail very quickly...normally within 24 hours – which was more of enough time for Methos' plan to work.

Methos grinned and took another sip of beer while he thought of what to with the other watcher, "...Hmm...some kind of illness would be nice...maybe diarrhoea...yeah... that would be good. The watcher wouldn't be able to leave the toilet for some hours." As a former doctor himself, Methos knew exactly what kind of medicine generated the desired effect: castor oil. Two hours and the first effects would show. The only thing Methos needed now was a good opportunity to give Ian Powers the oil. Maybe he could invite Ian to dinner as a way to repay the money he lost during the poker game. He only would have to wait until Ian would go to the toilet an then put the oil into Ian's drink. And two hours later Ian would no longer be able to follow his assignment around.

Taking the last drip of beer, Methos mentally made list of what he had to do the next day: "First, buy castor oil in a chemist's shop. Find a café near a school. Then give the manipulated pictures to Giles and tell him about the cafe. Last, search for the perfect place where you can bring Dimitri and Nathan Baker together where no one would witness the quickening."

Satisfied with his plans so far, Methos went to his bedroom, removed his clothes and fell into bed. While he made himself comfortable, he could almost hear the strategist in his mind laugh out loud in excitement of the events to come. Methos loved a good challenge... had always loved it. The pleasure he could get out of playing with his victim's minds was much better than the pleasure he got out of a plain kill. Kronos had understood him and he had used it to his advantage back in their Horseman time.

Methos sighed a little bit sadly. "Sometimes I really miss him, the way he challenged me...and HIM." Forcing his thoughts away, Methos grabbed his pillow and curled under the blanket.

**Location: several, day 11**

Everything went exactly like Methos had planned the next day. He had bought the oil and delivered the pictures to the detective after looking in the Internet for a school next to a café. Methos was surprised how many ice cafes were opened near schools. But on the other hand, maybe it was not really much of a surprise. Children loved ice and so it was only logical to open the ice café near a place visited by many children. Methos had inspected all the possible cafes and had chosen the one, where a big parking area was built between the school and the café. According to his chronicles, Baker's watcher likely would follow his assignment by car to the parking area. Methos was sure that the watcher would stay in the car because there would be no need to leave it. This was, after all, the reason why Methos had chosen that particular place. It provided the watcher with the best possibility to observe his assignment with minimal effort. All the watcher would have to do was sit and watch while enjoying the comfort of his acclimatized car on a hot summer day.

Finding a good place to send the two Immortals for their fight had cost Methos a little bit more of effort. It took him the whole afternoon to find a suitable place. At the end, he had chosen the ground floor of an old factory, which lay outside the city and had been closed for several years. It was very unlikely that there would be any unexpected visitors. The building itself was nailed shut, so there was no way to easily get inside of it. But this was not necessary and not wished. There was enough space before the building where the two Immortals could fight. Walking around the building, Methos searched for the best hiding place from which he could observe the place without being seen. The use of binoculars would also make it possible to stay out of the other Immortals sensing range.

"Observe and record... "he smiled, "...and sometimes intervene." Then he went back to his car and drove home, very satisfied with himself. All figures of his little game were in place, the only thing left to do was to chose the best time for the battle to begin.

**Location: Methos' flat, day 14**

Three days later, he called Ian and asked him if he would like to have dinner with him the next day. When Methos mentioned Darius's letter he allegedly had found, he instantly knew that he had pulled the right trigger. Ian was extremely enthusiastic. It almost seemed to Methos that nothing and nobody would be able to keep Ian away from attending this meeting. Methos was quite amused about Ian's enthusiasm to get the letter into his hands.

"Yeah" he snickered, "Mention the name Methos and throw in the possibility of a track to the oldest and every watcher goes crazy. Not really surprising, because the lucky 'winner' not only would earn $1,000,000 but also the honour of having his picture hung up in the watcher's hall of fame." Because Methos had visited the hall with Don once, he knew that only about 50 watchers had made it into it so far. Only watchers that had been killed in the line of duty or had shown great courage (like three watchers who had observed the Kurgan) where honoured. Another possibility to become a member of the hall was to discover an old immortal (not under 3000 years old, of course).

Satisfied with Ian's reaction and the events so far, Methos decided that is was finally time to make his most important move: call Dimitri and lure him to the warehouse. Opening his laptop and logging into the watcher base, Methos used Ian's code to get access to Dimitri's chronicle. With Dimitri's current address it was no problem for Methos to find out the other Immortal's cell phone number. Before he dialled, he went to his refrigerator, pulled out a cold beer and took a swallow, enjoying its taste on his tongue. "Relax," he thought. Then he set the beer down and dialled Dimitri's number.

**Location: somewhere in the city**

Dimitri was not in a very good mod and had not been for some days now when his cell phone rung. The weather was too hot and the last quickening he had taken was too long ago. And there was still the deep burning anger he felt for loosing the young Immortal several days ago. This little Immortal had tricked him...HIM. Had the insolence to stab him with a hidden dagger and ran away. The next time they would meet...and they would meet, of that he was sure ...he would break all of his bones before taking his pleasure. Maybe he even wouldn't kill him permanently for some time. This little scum deserved a very long and very painful death. He would get his revenge and show this little punk the price of pissing him off.

Answering the call, he angrily shouted, "Yes?" At the other end of the line he heard a small, unsteady and young voice, in which he almost could smell the voice owner's fear, "It's me. The Immortal you met near the café Auris a few days ago." Dimitri heard the young Immortal take a deep breath, probably to encourage himself. Then the voice got a little more stable and stronger, "I want the sword back. It's mine. It's a gift from my dead teacher...and..." The voice became weaker, "and...I want it back...." The last words were almost a plea, which brought an evil grin to Dimitri's face.

"How touching...This lad is even more entertaining than I expected...Wanting his teacher's sword back...how sweet and heart breaking...really a pity that I have no heart," he thought evilly. "Hey," he laughed into the phone, "No problem, lad. You can have it back...of course you have to beat me first. Maybe you even can manage to persuade me to let you touch the sword one last time before I kill you."

"I have practised," the young one replied, obviously trying to stabilize his shaking voice. "I will beat you. And then I will have my sword back...you will see."

At these last words, Dimitri was no longer able to keep a straight face and erupted into loud laughter, "This youngling is so good...I will have so much fun."

"O.K." he answered, "Challenge accepted. And because I am such a nice guy, I let you chose the place and the time you want to die."

"Alright," came the quiet answer. After the youngling had given him directions, Dimitri hung up. "Maybe the day is not as bad as I thought after all. Tomorrow will really be a day worthy to look forward to." Temporarily satisfied with himself and the world, he put his cell phone away and helped himself to a cigarette and a beer.

Across town, Methos was satisfied too. Everything had gone exactly as he had expected. After 5000 years, he knew how the minds of most people worked and which buttons he had to push to gain the desired reactions. Emptying his beer, he relaxed in his chair and switched on his TV. The only thing that was left to do now was to hope and pray that everything would go as planned.

**Location: Methos' flat, day 15**

The next day started very late for Methos. He had slept for about nine hours and was completely relaxed. Before having breakfast, he took a long, hot shower. After that he settled down in his favourite chair and began to write in his journals. An hour later, he was interrupted by Don, who called to invite him over that the evening. Methos happily agreed. Then he got ready to meet with Ian, making sure that he had a copy of Darius's letter and the castor oil in his pocket.

As Methos had expected, it had been very easy to put the oil into Ian's wine when he had gone to the men's room. Because the watcher had been too fascinated by the letter, he even hadn't noticed the different taste of his wine. They had been sitting in the restaurant, discussing the letter and the relationship between Darius and Methos for a couple of hours, when Ian had begun to show the first effects of the castor oil. He had smiled (with a slight expression of torment shown on his face) and excused himself to the toilet, where he stayed for about ten minutes before he finally managed to come back. Not long after that, Ian had excused himself again and parted with Methos to run home as fast as he could. He almost wouldn't have made it.

Calling the detective, Methos explained that everything was ready and that Giles should meet Nathan Baker in the chosen ice café in two hours. He also reminded Giles to send him a text message on his cell phone to let him know when he and his client would arrive in the café.

Methos hurried home where he once again accessed the watcher database to download everything on Marco Bianco, who happened to be Nathan Baker's watcher. After reading the file, Methos knew everything he wanted to know: what the man looked like and what car he drove. He closed the file and then took his sword, his dagger, a pair of binoculars, a gun, a chair, his MP3-Player and a bag with cold beer. After he had put everything into his car, he drove to the factory and took everything to the hiding place he had found a few days before. Sitting there while listening to the music (Queen: "I want to live forever") and drinking beer, he settled in to wait.

**Location: abandoned factory**

Methos was just emptying another bottle of his no longer cold beer, when suddenly his cell phone rang. It was the expected text message sent by Arnold Giles, announcing that both men had at arrived the ice café. Methos waited another five minutes before he dialled the number of the police station closest to the café. He lay that he had spotted a strange man who had been sitting in his Ford for about three hours now watching school children through binoculars. Methos also claimed that the man would probably be a pervert and the police should please hurry before anything horrible happened to the children. Also providing them with a good description of the 'pervert' and his car, Methos guessed that it would take the police no longer than five minutes to find the man and to question or even arrest him. Enough time for his assignment to get away without having a watcher on his tracks.

Methos grinned. It's play time" he almost cooed. Dimitri would most likely arrive in about half an hour and Nathan Baker wouldn't need very much longer to race from the café to the factory. Maybe he would even be faster, if he was angry enough about seeing the very hot pictures of his girlfriend with another man.

Exactly thirty minutes later Methos observed Dimitri arriving at the factory. Five minutes later Nathan Baker also arrived. With his binoculars Methos could see that Baker was very angry. His face was deep red and he was shouting angrily at Dimitri while he got out of his car. With a cry of pure rage he immediately attacked Dimitri, who seemed a little bit surprised of the whole situation, but easily managed to parry the blow. This seemed to raise Baker's anger even more. With hate burning eyes he attacked Dimitri on and on and didn't listen to Dimitri's questions concerning the reason for the attack.

Because on the one hand anger was not a good fighting friend and because on the other hand Dimitri was quite the better swordsman, he managed to stab Baker fatally after a few minutes and then finally took his head in a single forceful blow. A second later Methos watched the quickening hitting Dimitri while he cried out of pain and then sank weakly to his knees. Methos grinned, "Showtime" he said to himself, stepping out of his hiding place. Taking his sword with him, he walked down to the kneeling man until he stood in front of him.

"Hello there," he smiled his sweetest false smile. "If I'm correct, we have an appointment now."

Sensing Methos approach, the other Immortal had grabbed his sword and was now staring at Methos with wide eyes. Then he tried to back away. "I have just taken another quickening," he gulped weakly. "I need a few moments to recover."

"Oh," Methos grinned. "I don't think so. I prefer not to wait... So get up and fight."

For a moment Dimitri looked totally stunned. Then the realisation hit him and burning anger rose in him. "You..." he hissed full of hate, "You tricked me, you little scum... You planed this... yeah, YOU sent the other Immortal......" With an angry roar he forced himself to his feet. "I may be weakened from the quickening...but you are wrong, if you think I can't beat you...I still can...When I'm ready with you, little scum, you will plead for death, that I promise you...I will show you that it is a big mistake to mess with ME."

Full of burning desire to kill the youngling in front of him, Dimitri prepared to attack. The problem was, that the youngling no longer seemed to be a youngling. When the eyes of both Immortals met, Dimitri felt an ice-cold shudder run down his back. He suddenly realized that he had made a fatal mistake. Watching the other man's normal green eyes now burning in gold fury, he saw the promise of death in them...his death. Then he witnessed the other man's whole behaviour change. He seemed to grow bigger and his face hardened, showing no longer any sign of humanity. Also completely gone was the impression of youth and innocence. Instead Dimitri found himself looking into a timeless face and felt eternity taking his breath away. He realized that he had terribly underestimated the other Immortal. Not only that the other man was very clever but also very dangerous, deadly dangerous. He had lured him into a trap, tricking him with the mask of a new and harmless Immortal. Dimitri knew that he would die because the quickening had already weakened him too much to stand a chance against the other man. "Who are you?" he whispered, breathing heavily and feeling for the first time of his life real fear rise in his stomach.

The other Immortal smiled. It was a very evil smile, "I am Death". Without another word he attacked with almost inhuman speed. The fight didn't last very long because Dimitri already was too weak. After a minute Methos landed the final blow and separated Dimitri's head from the rest of his body. Crying out in pain, he fell to his knees when the quickening hit him and remained there to recover. A few minutes later, he got up and looked coldly at the dead Immortal's body. "Never mess with Death.... because at the end Death will always win."

Taking the Immortal's swords he then checked the bodies for any identification papers or any personal things that could help the police later to identify the bodies. After that, he put a small bottle of hydrochloric acid out of his coat that he poured over the dead men's faces to make it impossible for them to be identified by their appearance. After also destroying every evidence of his presence at this place, Methos drove back to his flat. He knew that is was very unlikely that the police would ever be able to discover the dead men's identity without any medical or dental documents as comparison. Not that it was very likely that the bodies would be discovered any time soon at this abandoned place, but it was always better to be careful than sorry afterwards.

**Location: Methos' flat**

When Methos got home, he first destroyed the Immortal's identity papers and then took a very long, relaxing hot shower before he called Arthur Giles to inform the detective that everything had went exactly as planned. Baker finally had gotten what he deserved. He also told Giles that his three men had persuaded the bastard that it would be much more healthy for him to leave town immediately and never come back. Melissa would be free of the scum and Giles should no longer be concerned. Everything would be all right now.

Then Methos hurried to visit Don.

**Location: Don's home**

About thirty minutes later Methos was sitting in Don's big and very comfortable easy chair, drinking his favourite beer while Don provided him with the latest watcher news. Then he laughed and told Methos that his friend Ian had called him, wanting to know if Don knew any good medicine for diarrhoea.

"I really feel sorry for him. I mean he has not been able to leave his toilet for about five hours now. Poor guy must have eaten something bad...By the way, where did you two guys have dinner? Remind me never to eat in that restaurant...because I don't want this to happen to me." Feeling very comfortable in each other's company, both men talked a while about old cultures before they decided to play chess. After 45 minutes, Methos smiled with gold burning eyes at Don and made his final move to win the game: "Checkmate".

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